SPANISH-ENGLISH
visto "he thought he'd seen it". Among the many verbs which occur in this construction are:
| acostumbrar "be accustomed to" | mandar "order to, command to" |
| bastar "be enough to" | necesitar "need to" |
| conseguir "succeed in" | parecer "seem to, appear to" |
| creer "believe, think" | pensar "intend to" |
| deber "ought, should" | poder "be able to" |
| decidir "decide to" | procurar "try to" |
| dejar "let, allow to" | querer "wish to" |
| desear "wish to, desire to" | resolver "decide to" |
| gustar "like, be pleasing to" | saber "know how to" |
| hacer "cause to, have done" | servirse "be so kind as to" |
| intentar "attempt to, try to" | temer "fear, be afraid" |
| lograr "succeed in" | ver "see" |
2.42Verb + direct object, which is normally a noun, pronoun, or clause: no tenemos libros "we haven't any books"; no me tratan bien "they don't treat me well"; quiero que estén contentos "I want them to be happy". But this construction is normally replaced by that of verb + indirect object (cf §2.44.3) with proper nouns or nouns referring to specific persons (or personified objects or animals), and with disjunctive personal pronouns, relative, demonstrative, and indefinite pronouns referring to persons (except que).
2.43Verb + predicate complement, which is normally a noun or pronoun used after ser or estar "be" and certain other verbs indicating identity or development, and agreeing with the subject in gender and number: mi amigo es abogado "my friend's a lawyer"; estamos cansados "we're tired".
2.44Verb + adverbial complement.This latter may be:
1.An adverb: habla muy bien "he speaks very well".
2.An adjective or noun used as an adverb: el enemigo atacó duro "the enemy attacked hard".
3.A phrase introduced by a preposition: sigue viviendo a la antigua "he continues to live in the old way"; nos entendimos por fin "we understood each other at last". This type of adverbial complement, with the preposition a, is normal instead of a direct object, in referring to a person (cf 2.42, above). Furthermore, the preposition a is normally used to introduce an infinitive after most verbs indicating motion, beginning, teaching, and learning, among others the following:
| acostumbrarse "become accustomed" | empezar "begin" |
| acudir "come up, run" | enseñar "teach" |
| aprender "learn" | invitar "invite" |
| atreverse "dare" | ir "go" |
| ayudar "help" | llegar "come, succeed" |
| comenzar "begin" | negarse "refuse" |
| correr "run" | obligar "oblige" |
| decidirse "decide" | ponerse "start, begin" |
| disponerse "get ready" | probar "try" |
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